The Son Always Rises, but the Daughter Sleeps In: A tale of OPB*

Friday, February 03, 2006

I gave a cabbie a lousy tip last night because he subjected me to 20 minutes of Boston's newest conservative talkshow host, Jay Severin. I just wish I had told him why his tip was so crappy.

They said things like: "Not all Muslims are terrorists, BUT all the terrorists have been Muslims." Excuse me? Does anybody remember Oklahoma City, April '95? Somehow I don't think that that sack o' crap that set off the bomb in the daycare center prayed towards Mecca or read the Koran. It really upset me. The violence that has taken place in the name of all religions is equally awful.

So, the cabbie got a lousy tip. That was my idiotic protest for the day.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

little Monster Factory

When Eric is older, is he going to become a little monster like so many 4 and 5 year old boys? So many older boys seem to be totally devoid of empathy and look at you blankly when you tell them that they've just hurt a smaller child.

A few weeks ago, an older boy shoved Eric off a bench at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Eric was in his way and he just gave him a good shove. His grandparents were really upset about it, and tried to talk to him about it, but he just shut them out. Is this a boy behavior? This kid would have won the toddler poker championship for all the emotion he showed. But when one of the boys in Eric's class bit another child, he was devastated and needed a hug just as much as the bitee. It's these sociopath-seeming boys that scare me. The ones that don't react to any kind of correction. The ones that just don't seem to care.

I've seen little boys fly into a rage when corrected on how to deal with a smaller kid. But it shows that they're processing it, and they're upset because it's unfair that they have to be so careful and responsible. This doesn't bug me at all. They want to do the right thing, but they just find it so frustrating. It's hard to remember the rules of engagement with somebody smaller than you. It's those smug little brats that just shrug and smirk and know there's no "real" consequences to anything they do that turn my blood cold. I have an old friend with a kid like that and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with it. She just moved back to Boston and I was looking forward to spending time with her and her family, but I really think her son has some dangerous emotional issues. How do you deal with something like that, other than avoid, avoid avoid?

About Me

My name is Margaret, but people that knew me before 1988 usually call me Meg. I grew up in The People's Republic of Cambridge and I used to live next door in Somerville. (Which is much cooler than Cambridge these days despite a conspicuous lack of public green-space). I graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1992, and to this day I have mixed feelings about that. I I'm married to a fabulously handsome and kind man and I have 2 really neat kids. We also have 2 cats and live in a Victorian in Melrose with a huge porch. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world most of the time. I have a lot of love and stability in my life. It may be unearned, but it is reciprocated and appreciated.